By Allan Bolstad, civics director

The Ritchie Community League voted Feb. 6 to bring the following recommendations forward to the Feb. 26 public meeting of the city’s community and public services committee:

• a city-wide residential speed limit of 30 km/h

• a city-wide minor collector speed limit of 40 km/h

• a city-wide major collector/arterial speed limit of 50 km/h.

In addition, the League asks the city to enhance traffic safety measures that discourage shortcutting and speeding through residential neighbourhoods. This would include roadway design measures like curb extensions and traffic islands, along with electronic speed signs and educational programs.

Rationale

Ritchie Community League has long been concerned about speeding and shortcutting through its neighbourhood and would like to see changes that improve pedestrian safety and enhance the liveability of the area. The above recommendations are significant steps in this direction, as they would see traffic speeds reduced to 30 km/h on most of the neighbourhood streets, along with a reduction to 40 km/h on 76 Avenue and 96 Street. The recommendations also align with the work the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues is doing and generally reflect the sentiments expressed by our residents on a recent EFCL traffic safety survey.

Ritchie Street Speed Survey Results: Summary

1.    Number of Ritchie Respondents

67, including 53 league members, five of whom are board members

2.    Residential Road Speed Limit

Ritchie was quite evenly divided.  27 in favour of 40 km/h, 25 in favour of 30 km/h, four in favour of 50 km/h, 11 people skipped this question.  However, in response to a question about whether the speed limit should be 30 km/h in the core zone (of which we are part), 35 were in favour, 27 opposed and five skipped this question.

Conclusion: Ritchie residents would like to see the speed limit reduced from 50 kmh on residential roads, but are very evenly divided between 40 kmh and 30 kmh.

3.    Collector Road Speed Limits:

The majority here said we should differentiate between major collector roads (four lanes with buses like Whyte Avenue or 99 Street) and minor collector roads (two lanes with buses like 96 Street or 76 Avenue).  Altogether, 40 were in favour of differentiating, 16 were opposed and 11 skipped this question.

Minor Collector Roads.  Of those who were in favour of differentiating, 22 wanted to see a 40 km/h speed limit, 15 were in favour of 30 km/h and four wanted to see 50 km/h.  Of those opposed to differentiating, 10 wanted a 50 km/h speed limit, five wanted a 40 km/h speed limit and one person wanted a 30 km/h speed limit.

Major Collector Roads.  A majority want to see the speed limit stay at 50 km/h (26), while some liked the idea of reducing it to 40 km/h (16).  No one was in favour of 30 km/h and 25 people skipped this question.

Conclusion: Ritchie residents would like to see the speed limit dropped to 40 km/h on minor collector roads (like 96 Street and 76 Avenue) and kept at 50 km/h on major collector roads (like Whyte Avenue and 99 Street).

4.    Speed Limit Consistency:

A clear majority were in favour of keeping speed limits consistent across the city.

Residential roads. 41 voted in favour of consistency, with 13 in favour of varying them (nine to meet local road design and traffic conditions, four to meet needs of local residents.)  13 people skipped this question.

Collector roads. Again 41 voted for consistency, with 13 in favour of varying them (10 to meet local design and traffic conditions, three to meet needs of local residents.  Again, 13 people skipped this question.

Arterial Roads. 44 voted in favour of consistency, 10 in favour of varying them (nine to meet local road design and traffic conditions, one to meet the needs of local residents). Again, 13 people skipped this question.

Conclusion: Ritchie residents would like to see consistent speed limits across the city, whether it is a residential road, collector road or arterial road.

5.    Playground Zones.

A slight majority (25) said the speed limit should be reduced to protect children, regardless of the type of road is was on.  22 said to keep them consistent with the road type, while seven didn’t know and 13 skipped this question.

A slightly larger majority (27) said the playground zone hours should be changed to better reflect program hours, while 21 were opposed, six were not sure and 13 skipped this question.

Conclusion: It’s hard to draw too many conclusions here, as the numbers are quite close. 

6.     Crosswalks

Nothing conclusive to report here, as a majority of residents voted in favour of having more pedestrian-activated crosswalks (30 to 23), while conversely a majority said they didn’t have to wait too long to cross the street at crosswalk locations (33 to 20).

7.    Measures to Address Traffic Shortcutting and Speeding

Ritchie residents are quite strongly in favour of additional measures to address traffic shortcutting and speeding through the neighbourhood (36 to 17) with the most popular measures being physical design changes (raised intersections, road islands, curb extensions) followed by electronic signs and public education, followed by speed traps and finally photo radar.

8.    General Comments

Ritchie residents left numerous comments.  The most common reflected concerns about speeding and unsafe conditions on 96 Street, on 76 Avenue and at the intersection between these two roadways (Four Corners).  This would reinforce the idea of reducing the traffic speed on both of these minor collector roads to 40 km/h from 50 km/h, along with other speed reduction measures named above.

Summary

Ritchie residents would like to reduced speed limits on many roadways in Edmonton.  This would include residential roads, where they are quite split between dropping the speed to either 40 km/h or 30 km/h, as well as on minor collector roads like 96 Street  and 76 Avenue, where they would like the speed limit reduced to 40 km/h. They would also like to see consistent speed limits for the same road type across the city, regardless of whether it is a residential, collector or arterial road.  Finally, they would like to more city resources dedicated to dealing with traffic speeding and shortcutting, particularly along 96 Street and 76 Avenue in their neighbourhood.

How to Participate in the Feb. 26 Public Meeting

City administration will present different scenarios for neighbourhood speed reductions to city councillors who sit on the community and public services committee.

Part of that Feb. 26 committee meeting will include a public portion where you can speak up to ensure your opinion is heard. Letters submitted in advance will also be considered.

City council asked its administration to consider:

1. A city-wide default speed limit of 40 km/h on both local residential and collector roadways

2. A default speed limit of 30 km/h on both local residential and collector roadways in high density neighbourhoods located in central Edmonton, which is being referred to as the Core Zone.

The Public Hearing will be held in the River Valley Room at City Hall.

If you wish to speak at it, fill in the Request to Speak form OR call the Office of the City Clerk at 780-496-8178 anytime up to the start of the meeting. 

You may send your written comments to the Office of the City Clerk or by email to city.clerk@edmonton.ca.